On April 12, 1864, Forrest led his 2,500 cavalrymen against the Union-held fortification, occupied by 292 black infantry and 285 white troops from Tennessee. The battle's details remain disputed and controversial to this day. What is known is that Forrest's men stormed the fort, inflicting heavy casualties on its defenders, who quickly fell into disarray as the Union command—already short by several officers—collapsed. Conflicting reports of what happened next are the source of controversy. Union sources claimed that despite the fact that the Union troops surrendered, Forrest's men massacred them in cold blood, allegedly burning and burying some alive. President Abraham Lincoln condemned the incident. Confederates and Forrest denied this claim.

Whatever the truth may be, Union casualties were high and only eighty of the U.S. Colored Troops survived the fight. The Confederates evacuated Fort Pillow that evening, so they gained little except a temporary disruption of Union operations. The "Fort Pillow Massacre" was thereafter used as a Union rallying cry and cemented resolve to see the war through to its conclusion.

In the aftermath of this incident, Lincoln demanded that Confederates treat captured black Union soldiers as prisoners of war, even if they happened to be runaway slaves. This demand was refused, and as a result, the exchanges of prisoners that had gone on during the war came to a halt.

Why does Professor Wilson defend race hate and treason would be a better question.